It is commonly recognized that the roots of Floorball are to be found in the game of street hockey that was being played in the United States during the 1960’s and 70’s. Following the growth of the National Hockey League (NHL), street hockey developed as a cheap alternative to ice hockey for youngsters. The playing equipment consisted of a wooden hockey stick and a hard rubber ball. Street hockey gained rapid popularity, most notably in the states of Massachusetts, Minnesota, New York, and Michigan, where the first tournament was held in 1962. A similar game called ball hockey was also being played in Canada.

Swedish students studying in the US at the time street hockey and cosom hockey were developing took the idea of the game back to Sweden. Other students had also seen a similar indoor game, developed from field hockey, being played in the Netherlands.

The games of street hockey and cosom hockey were embraced and modified by students in Huskvarna, Sweden, in the early 1970’s, and the new sport of “Floorball” was born. The game quickly blossomed under the guise of several different names including “plasticbandy”, “softbandy” and “floorbandy”. Popularity for the game increased, most rapidly in schools, as an after-work activity and even as cross training for an elite handball team in Gothenburg. Floorbal quickly developed into one of the most popular sports in Scandinavia. Innebandy was eventually settled on as the name for the game in Sweden, and Floorball was adopted as the official international name.

Source: www.floorball-usa.com